‘TUF 16’ Recap: Episode 1

Season 16 of “The Ultimate Fighter” begins with 32 welterweights
walking toward UFC President Dana White, who stands inside the
Octagon at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

After a rousing speech in which the UFC boss hits all the normal
talking points, coaches Shane
Carwin and Roy Nelson
are introduced. “Big Country” decides to put both hands on White’s
shoulders while giving the fighters some advice that directly
contradicts what The Boss just told them about producing exciting
fights. This goes over exactly as well as one would expect.

Kevin
Nowaczyk and Dom Waters are the first fighters in the cage.
Both are 23 years old, but Waters immediately asserts his
superiority by blasting his man with a vicious left uppercut.
Referee Josh Rosenthal mercifully saves Nowaczyk from the onslaught
of ground-and-pound, and Waters is the first contestant to punch
his ticket to the infamous “Ultimate Fighter” house.

Lev
Magen and Michael
Hill are up next. Hill’s nipple star tattoo should give him a
clear psychological edge on paper, but his Israeli-born opponent
appears unfazed and decides to play in Hill’s punching range. It
was a bad choice. Hill finds a home for his left hook and drops
Magen like a bag of bricks to advance one step closer to the
tournament title.

Next, fighter/marine/MMA nutritionist George
Lockhart is paired with Strikeforce and International Fight
League veteran Bristol
Marunde. Both men eat some hard punches and knees in the early
going before Lockhart muscles his man into the clinch. Midway
through the round, Marunde snatches a sneaky guillotine off a
sprawl and submits his rapidly tiring opponent.

Undefeated Jason South
now meets former Bellator Fighting Championships talent Mike Ricci.
After a brief feeling out process, Ricci cracks South with a
straight left and methodically pounds him out. The impressive
performance is then interrupted by Julian Lane,
who apparently plans to assume the mandatory role of “that mohawked
dude” for Season 16, provided he can get past Diego
Bautista. It is not pretty, but Lane advances via judges’
decision.

Cortez
Coleman starts strong against Igor Araujo
but ultimately gasses, exposing his neck to a triangle choke during
the sudden victory round. Shortly thereafter, James
Chaney jumps guard on Jerel Clark
just seconds into their bout and begins to work for an omoplata
before transitioning to a triangle, then an armbar, then back to
the triangle, slowly squeezing the life out of Clark and earning
the tapout.

Hawaiian-born Zane Kamaka
is up next against “The Ultimate Fighter 7” jiu-jitsu coach
Cameron
Diffley, who hits a takedown early in the first frame. Kamaka
manages to roll him, but Diffley pays the reversal no mind,
snatching an arm from his back to end the fight by submission.

Frank
Camacho instantly neutralizes Neil Magny’s massive reach
advantage by taking him to the floor and capturing his back, nearly
finishing the fight with ground-and-pound. Somehow, Magny escapes
and returns the favor before taking control in round two by popping
the Lloyd Irvin
rep with jabs and straights from range. He starts round three the
same way before taking Camacho’s back multiple times to end the
fight. The resilient fighter from Illinois is unable to find the
finish but nevertheless grabs a well-deserved nod from the
judges.

Colton
Smith fakes a gloves-touch and shoots on Jesse
Barrett, prompting White to call him a “douche” in front of God
and everybody. To be fair, neither coach is crazy about this
strategy, either. Smith outwrestles his man over the course of two
rounds to earn his spot in the Sweet 16.

Max
Griffin displays great hips in sprawling on a pair of Matt Secor
takedowns before escaping a tight kneebar attempt to take round
one. Unwilling to relent, Secor forces a third round by scoring
some takedowns and then finishes the hard-fought bout with a
triangle choke.

David
Michaud does his best to hang with Eddy Ellis,
but the veteran ultimately proves too savvy, catching the South
Dakotan in a fight-ending arm-triangle choke in round two.
Immediately afterward, Joey Rivera
joins Ellis in the house by taking a unanimous verdict over
ex-Strikeforce and Bellator talent Saad Awad.

Nic
Herron-Webb then adds his name to the list of house qualifiers
by hanging tough from his guard and finding an armbar to turn the
tables on Tim Ruberg.
The final preliminary bout sees “Smilin’” Sam Alvey
deliver arguably the nastiest knockout of this season opener, as
the Bellator vet absolutely paralyzes Leo Kuntz with
a sharp counter right hook.

After White congratulates the first-round winners, it is time for
the coaches to choose their squads. Before they do, however, White
announces that every finish from here on out will earn the fighter
responsible a cool $5,000. At the end of the season, fans will vote
for the best knockout, submission and fight, and those awards carry
with them a $25,000 prize. Nelson wins the coin flip and elects to
choose the first fight, meaning the former UFC interim champion
receives the first fighter pick. Carwin selects Alvey, Marunde,
Ricci, Magny, Chaney, Ellis, Araujo and Secor; “Big Country”
chooses Waters, Hill, Diffley, Smith, Manley, Herron-Webb, Rivera
and Lane.

We close the premiere with a typical season debut vignette,
assuring us that the star of this season will once again be alcohol
... lots and lots of alcohol.